BBC One after DSO

What will BBC One look like after DSO is complete in 2013?

By then everyone will have all the BBC channels:

BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three
BBC Four
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC News Channel (formerly BBC News 24)
BBC Parliament

Plugging Overnight Downtime
Ten years ago, BBC One still shut down around 1-2 am and broadcast BBC News 24 through the night. Presumably that was for the benefit of those who could not get BBC News 24 then (only a tiny minority had it when it launched autumn 1997 on analogue cable only). Now BBC One seems to go on broadcasting until around 4am, but still transmits BBC News Channel from around 4am to 6am. After DSO, everyone will have BBC News Channel, so showing BBC News Channel overnight will surely be redundant. Therefore, I think they'll stop that practice and make BBC One a true 24 hour channel for the first time since it first launched in 1936 (and relaunched in 1946).

National News Bulletins
The familliar weekday bulletins at lunctime, early evening and late evening (9 / 10pm) have been around as long as I can remember. Again, with everyone able to watch BBC News 24, they too will be redundant, will they not?

Children's Programmes
When I was playgroup age, I used to enjoy watching Play School, and was still watching it (and other kids programmes on BBC One) at the age of 10. In the traditional weekday afternoon children's programmes slot (circa 4pm to 5:30pm), BBC One still shows childrens programmes (with CBeebies and CBBC branding). Of course, everyone will have the actual CBBC and CBeebies channels, so that children's programmes strand on BBC One will be redundant.

So to sum up my predictions:
BBC One becomes a true 24 hour channel - its own scheduling 24/7 (it won't need to broadcast BBC News Channel overnight as everyone will have that channel).
No more national news bulletins (1pm, 6pm, 10pm), they will be redundant as everyone will have BBC News Channel.
However, since BBC One is regionalised, whereas BBC News Channel isn't, it will still need to show regional magazines (Points West, South Today etc).
Since everyone will have the two children's channels CBBC and CBeebies, no more children's programmes on BBC One.

Do you agree with my predictions for what BBC One will look like after DSO? Does anyone else have any other predictions?

Plugging Overnight Downtime
Alot of popular programmes are transmitted with signing during the night on BBC One. I would see them continuing that through to 6am or closing down rather than simulcasting the NC. The same with BBC Two.

National News Bulletins
They remain a part of a balanced popular schedule; they also anchor people into the channel around peak times in the evening. Not everyone wants to get their information from a rolling news channel. I imagine they would keep the national bulletins post-DSO.

Children's Programmes
For the amount they show on BBC One they may as well give up after DSO and just show trailers for the chldrens' channels post-DSO.

I really don't think much should change. Even with around 85% now having digital TV children's programmes and news bulletins still have far higher ratings on BBC1 than they'd ever have on CBBC and News 24 (I refuse!) respectively! News 24 overnight is more about cost saving than exposing the brand now anyway (and I imagine News 24 gets more viewers at 3am in the morning on BBC1 than it does at any point during the day on it's own channel!)


BBC2 is the main issue - BBC3 stripped the low brow stuff from it, BBC4 stripped the high brow stuff while BBC1 nicks anything that gets any viewers. If kids programmes went exclusively to the kids channels that would be another huge hole in the schedules (and BBC1 would nick their afternoon line up).

Not a huge issue - but not everyone who gets BBC One and Two will get the BBC News Channel post switch-over. There are the cable viewers in Belgium, Netherlands etc.... (They were, I believe, the main reason that a cut-down CEEFAX service returned to BBC One/Two DSat - as the cable rebroadcasts don't carry digital text)

I don't imagine that for the foreseeable future there would be any considerable change. If they drop any existing content it would need replacing with other content which is added expense the BBC cannot probably easily find.

An increase in the signed content would certainly be a positive move - very much in keeping with being a PSB.

One sensible thing to cover both areas would be to simulcast the children's and news programming shown on BBC1 with signing on their dedicated channels. I know it all ready happens with the One o'clock News - but if expanded to the majority of simulcast content it would really justify BBC1 still showing content from the digital off shoots.

That would be a very good idea. Is there any children's programming which is currently signed?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/sign/

I don't think there will be much change to BBC One's schedule after DSO, probably more a case of the channel will just continue to evolve as it does now. Just because everyone can recieve the BBC News Channel after DSO does not mean they will watch it. The BBC will want to retain the News viewers it currently has on BBC One and dropping the News programs from BBC One would be a step in the wrong direction. the regional elements currently have no way of transmitting on the News Channel and it would be very expensive & complex to achieve this is a short timescale. BBC One is a channel that caters for all walks of like so i don't think DSO will affect how the schedule is worked.

Well actually regional news is one area I could perhaps see being shifted over to the news channel in the long term - I'm probably over simplifying things here but all that would be required is effectively switching the BBC1 and BBC News streams. However, as with the national news it would probably lose alot of viewers, so hence not be worth it.

Little or no change ....

There's the question of what the BBC will use the downtime of the HD channel for. Maybe the stillborn linear 'choices' on 'voices' catchup service might be introduced during the 'downtime'

AIUI, increased 'accessibility' (i.e. signing, subtitles and audio description) for TV pogrammes isn't a PSB commitment, it's an OFCOM / governmental requirement. In fact, I think it's not too long before 100% of programmes have to be subtitled. The quota of required signed and audio-described programmes, which I think only applies to digital streams but I might be wrong on that, is lower, but is increasing. Certainly AD is a digital-only thing even though it would be possible on analogue via the dual-mono NICAM transmission method. AFAIK however, dual-mono NICAM has never been used in the UK.

Signed programmes tend to shown be at the weekends on CBBC and CBeebies (at least that's whenever I've seen them). News24 is signed at various points during the day, for example during the One o'clock News, when it's non-signed on BBC One. Channel 4 always used to be (still are?) a bit annoying with their signed programmes, putting signing on Hollyoaks Omnibus on a Sunday for example. Presumably this scores quite a lot of percentage points towards their target, but I find it somewhat annoying if I'm trying to catch up.

Anyway, going back to the OT, I can't see BBC One changing too drastically post DSO. So long as it remains one of the most popular channels in the UK with a wide remit, it'll keep its multi-genre, reactive schedules, and probably it's news programmes and therefore, it's regionality. As long as there are more than just regional news programmes on the BBC, moving all regional streams to the News Channel makes little sense. Inside Out might just fit on the NC, but regional specials certainly wouldn't (Nature of Britain for example). The national opts in Scotland, Wales and NI would have to remain BBC One streams, so we may as well keep English streams too.